Hey everyone. I hope you all had a good Holiday. I'm at Jess' house now so that's a lot of fun. Though my dog passed away this morning so it's a bit upsetting though Jess and I went out for a day out. it was good though one place wasn't that great. Still, it was nice. Plus our anniversary is coming up as well which I'm very excited about. We'll go out on that day too for some fun. I hope everyone had a good Holiday and a good new year.


Chapter 43

Naruto

Jiraiya, so he's… he's Oreo's teammate! No way! Oreo never mentioned his teammate was such a perv! Oh man. "Well you're just a pervy Sage."

"Would you stop calling me that," he sighs.

I smirk inwardly, I wonder if Oreo will like that I'm giving his teammate a hard time.

"Anyway, kid it's time w have a talk about something," he says.

"About what?" I ask. My chakra feels so much better without that seal on me. Stupid Oreo snake sealing my chakra way. I'm sure Pervy Sage didn't want me to know what he actually did, but I know way more than he thinks.

"Come along," he says and I follow him to a clearing where we sit down. I look at a small river that passes through it. I can't imagine a lot of people come here. The sun is quite nice one the water as the sun sets though.

"What is it? Better not be something stupid."

"No, this is very serious," he says. I remember when Oreo told us about his teammate and how he can be really serious at times. This seems like one of those times. He was all silly and goofing off and looking at women before, but now he looks at me like all that was just an act. Kinda like me i guess. Though I don't look at naked girls.

"Alright, what's so important?" I ask sitting on a rock.

"Have you ever noticed that you have two chakra within you?" He asks.

"Two…?" I ask then think a little bit. How would I have two unless he means… "You mean mine and the chakra of the Kyuubi?"

"You know about that?"

"I could ask you the same thing. Isn't that supposed to be some big secret?"

"How I know isn't important right now."

"Well I only know because one of my academy teachers said I was the fox and then I was told it was sealed inside of me by the fourth."

"I see, and have you ever used that chakra?"

"One time when I thought Sasuke died I felt this power. My regular chakra is blue, but this chakra was red, and it felt really dark. I just got really mad and it came out."

"Have you ever thought of how powerful you could be if you were able to harness that power?" he asks.

"Well yeah, I guess so, but I don't want to force it when I'm not ready. I have enough trouble with my own chakra, besides if this fox is a living thing then I want to get to know him instead of just using his power. I mean it can't be fun for him to be sealed away even if he did attack the village. I mean there must be a reason, you know?"

"You're a very strange kid, you know that?"

"Hey! Don't make fun of me! I'm serious, you know? It's not fair and I want to know this fox. I mean we have to share my body and all that, you know?"

"You say you know a lot."

"It's a habit, what about it?"

"Oh nothing," he says waving my ustion off. "So you'd rather get to know the Bijuu inside you?"

"Well yeah, is that bad?"

"No, it's fascinating. Throughout my travels I've never met anyone who has said that before."

"Well you're never going to meet anyone like me!" I declare.

"It seems I won't." he chuckles.

"What's so funny?"

"You just remind me of someone."

Is he talking about himself or someone else? I wonder. "Who?"

"Well me when I was your age," he says, but I get the feeling that's not the whole truth.

"So Pervy Sage are you going to teach me any cool jutsu?" I ask after a pause.

"Well I suppose I am your teacher now so I suppose I'll have to. Though I still think it would be useful for you to be able to access the fox's power when needed."

"But I'd have to find a way to talk to him. Like I said I don't want to force him to give me his power."

"And how do you plan on meeting him?"

"Well… I duno! I didn't get that far! I mean where even is he? I mean I know in the seal, but…"

"The Bijuu are manifestations of chakra, however they do have a form. Though there isn't literally a giant fox inside you, he does have a form within your mental scape. So if you were able to enter your own mind then you would be able to see him and the cage he is inside. That is hte manifestation of the seal."

"What would happen if the seal was broken?"

"It depends on the situation, but it's not something I would advise. If the seal is broken wrong it could cause the Bijuu to be released and if a Bijuu is extracted then the container known as a Jinchuuriki would die."

"That's a mean thing to call them."

"Though your case is different most Jinchuriki are made as a weapon for the use of their village."

"Weapons, but…"

"Ninja are weapons for their village. The power of a Bijuu is great and they have been used to keep balance among the great nations."

"That hasn't really worked, I mean there have been three great wars so far."

"That is true, but one day I hope there will be a time were there are no wars at all."

"If that's the case then the Bijuu can't be used as weapons either. I mean they deserve to live as much as anyone else, right? I mean I get their dangerous, but like…"

He looks at me for a little while then closes his eyes. "You're certainly different than a lot of people. Maybe it will be worth training you."

I think back to what Oreo said about Pervy Sage. He said he was on a mission to find peace, and to fulfill this destiny that he got about training someone who will bring about peace or something. I didn't really get it all, but still.

"Yay! Thanks! Oh, but… how would I meet the fox. I mean… the only time I've been able to use his power was when my life was in danger and I don't really want to go that far for that. I mean that doesn't teach me how to use it whenever it just means that I can use it when I'm in danger, you know?"

"Putting your life at risk may be one of the simplest ways to do it, but there may also be other methods that are less risky."

"I'd rather try the less risky methods first. I mean I don't mind pushing myself, but really that's not very good, and even if it was good I don't want to risk dying because I can't die before I reach my dream!"

"What's your dream?"

"I'm going to be the greatest Hokage!"

"I see, you're quite ambitious."

"Well at first I just wanted to be so that people will respect me, but I learned that in order to become Hokage you need respect so I'm going to cause them to love me and then I'm going to be Hokage and protect everyone I care about."

He closes his eyes and thinks for a long moment. I wonder what's going on in his head. I want to ask what he's thinking, but I have a feeling he's not actually going to tell me. Old people like keeping secrets apparently. Oreo's keeping it a secret that he is old, but I know better.

"Well I suppose meditating might be worth a try."

"Meditating?" I ask. "What's that?"

"It's whwere you sit very still and focus on your breathing and don't worry about everything else. It's something I had to learn to become a sage, because in order to achieve that you must be able to stay still and be in tune with nature, however that's not it's only use. It does help with calming the mind. I wonder if by doing so you'd be able to enter your mind and meet the fox."

"Alright! I wanna try it!" I say jumping up. I'm actually excited to meet him. I know he can't really hurt me because of the seal so I'm rather interested.

"Calm down and sit down then. You're going to have to be patient and focus on your breathing."

I sit down. I have a feeling this is going to be boring, but it's going to be worth it. I sit down and do as he instructs. My foot twitches and my shoulder itches and I have no idea how people can sit still like this.

"You need to focus. Ignore all thos distractions."

"I'm trying! It's not that easy you know?"

"Yes, I do know. I started training to be a sage since before your age."

"Wait really?"

"Accidentally, yes, but that's not the point. The point is I know it's annoying, but if you want it to succeed you're going to have to try."

Oreo told me that sometimes you have to do the annoying things because they can be useful down the road. If I can meet the fox that will be useful so I'm going to have to do this even though it's annoying.

I close my eyes again trying to clear my mind of thoughts.

Drip, drip

Is it starting to rain?

No wait… why is there water over the floor? I open my eyes. I'm no longer in the clearing.

I look around. The place looks like a sewer with dripping water and water that goes up to my ankles. The hallway stretches out with some pathways leading off. Is this really my mind?

I walk further in, I wonder where I can find the fox. I walk through a few passageways until I come to a large room. In the end of the room is a large gate with the word seal on a piece of paper.

I walk up a few stairs to the gate. When I get there a pair of red slitted eyes open and look at me. "So… the little human has come to say hello. What do you want? You don't seem in danger so what could you possibly want with me?"

Unfazed by his question I grin. "Hi, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, what's your name, and um… are you a boy or a girl? It's hard to tell."